NEWSLETTER
The Minnesota Timberwolves just made the move of the offseason (at least until someone trades for Kevin Durant, of course).
One day after handing Karl-Anthony Towns a supermax extension, the organization has added their center of the future in Rudy Gobert, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Utah Jazz will receive an absolutely massive haul in return, which includes *deep breath* Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, 2022 first-round pick Walker Kessler, and FOUR FIRST ROUND PICKS.
The draft capital in return will reportedly be a 2023, 2023, 2027, and 2029 first-round pick. The first three will be unprotected and the latter will be top-5 protected. Oh, and there might also be a pick swap involved in 2026.
For anyone holding out hope that the Chicago Bulls might be in store for a blockbuster move to land the three-time DPOY, I think we just learned why that didn’t happen. Utah’s return package is absolutely insane, and there was simply no way Arturas Karnisovas and Co. could have matched that. No. Freakin’. Way.
I have to imagine the Bulls knew this offer had been floated around, which is likely why a lot of this Gobert stuff cooled down in recent weeks. But has that led the front office to consider other trade targets? Other than re-signing Zach LaVine, free agency has been a pretty big disappointment for the Bulls thus far. So let’s hope they have something else up their sleeve over the next few days.
